strange creatures crawl out of the woodwork of the web and wriggle in the unaccustomed light

Want to know all the code names for USAia’s massive intelligence gathering programs? Just browse through the “intelligence analysts” who post their resumes on the public career networking site LinkedIn. ANCHORY, NUCLEON, TRAFFICTHIEF, ARCMAP, SIGNAV, COASTLINE, DISHFIRE, FASTSCOPE, OCTAVE/CONTRAOCTAVE, PINWALE, UTT, WEBCANDID, FASCIA, OCTSKYWARD, INTELINK, METRICS, BANYAN, MARINA … these all sound absolutely terrifying. Of course, some of them are just mundane commercial software and systems. Finding the newly revealed NSA surveillance programs amidst the “risk management suites” is part of the fun. The ACLU’s Christopher Soghoian discovered that the secret programs the WaPo revealed on Jun 15 can also be found by searching LinkedIn. The profile linked by Soghoian lists more than two dozen intelligence programs with menacing names in the current techno-creep NSA style. This analyst also says he is responsible for NSA PowerPoint presentations to explain the massive surveillance systems to intelligence management and political leaders: “Prepared topic-specific, detailed presentations for senior leadership using Powerpoint, Word, ZapGrab, ARCMap, and SIGNAV.” We located many similar lists of current NSA projects on other career and networking sites, including this one on Indeed.com:

When modern electrical devices operate they generate electromagnetic fields. Digital computers, radio equipment, typewriters, and so on generate massive amounts of electromagnetic signals which if properly intercepted and processed will allow certain amounts of information to be reconstructed based on these “compromising emanations”. Basically anything with a microchip, diode, or transistor, gives off these fields. Compromising emanations are these unintentional intelligence-bearing signals, which, if intercepted and analyzed, potentially disclose the national security information, transmitted, received, handled, or otherwise processed by any information-processing equipment. These compromising emanation signals can then escape out of a controlled area by power line conduction, other fortuitous conduction paths such as the air conditioning duct work, or by simply radiating a signal into the air (like a radio station). An excellent example of these compromising emanations may be found in modems and fax machines which utilize the Rockwell DataPump modem chip sets and several modems made by US Robotics. When these modems operate they generate a very strong electromagnetic field which may be intercepted, demodulated, and monitored with most VHF radios. This is also a very serious problem with many speaker phone systems used in executive conference rooms. This is also a very serious problem with many fax machines, computer monitors, external disc drives, CD-R drives, scanners, printers, and other high bandwidth or high speed peripherals. If an eavesdropper is using high quality intercept equipment the signal may be easily acquired several hundred feet or more away from the target.